


Mistletoe Mishaps

by Spoodlemonkey



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Caught under the mistletoe, Christmas Eve, Coming Out, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, OC, Scheming, Toronto Maple Leafs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-28 02:13:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17173907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spoodlemonkey/pseuds/Spoodlemonkey
Summary: Mitch answers in a gaudy Christmas sweater, bright red with flashing lights that temporarily blind him when he throws open the door.“Hyms!” He ushers Zach inside and steals the presents from his hands. “We were starting to think you’d ditched us!”“And miss your sweater?”“It’s amazing, right?” Mitch does a little shimmy and bells jingle from somewhere in his sweater.





	Mistletoe Mishaps

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Retail Hell Day! Before I head out for my shift I just wanted to post this up! Mistakes are my own, let me know what you think! I figured that even if they didn't celebrate Christmas, none of the Leafs could pass up a party at Patty's house! A little iffy about this one so comments are greatly appreciated.

Zach’s running late when he gets to the Marleau’s Christmas Eve party. 

The house is lit up in strands of brightly coloured lights, an inflatable Santa propped up on the lawn, festive against the green grass and bare sidewalks still waiting to be covered in snow. The drive is full, so Zach parks on the street, gathering up the gifts he picked up for the kids and the food he’d offered to bring along. The air is damp with the threat of rain, and a brisk wind starts to pick up. He leaves his coat in the car—it’s just going to get dumped in the guest room and he doesn’t need it for the short walk, and then jogs over to the house.

Mitch answers in a gaudy Christmas sweater, bright red with flashing lights that temporarily blind him when he throws open the door.

“Hyms !” He ushers Zach inside and steals the presents from his hands. “We were starting to think you’d ditched us!” 

“And miss your sweater?”

“It’s amazing, right?” Mitch does a little shimmy and bells jingle from somewhere in his sweater. “Auston still thinks his is better, make sure you tell him otherwise.” 

Cheerful music is piped through the speakers and Zach leaves Mitch to drop his food off in the kitchen where Christina and Patty are holding court. He manages to escape with a few hugs and a mug of hot chocolate. The first floor is filled with adults—which, he has to forcibly remind himself, he is  _ technically  _ one. 

He’s headed for the basement where he can already hear the sounds of the kids and his teammates when he gets caught in a doorway by a small blonde. 

“Fancy running into you here!” She beams up at him—petite, a few years younger than him, and it seems like  _ she _ knows him but he doesn’t recognize her. “Mistletoe!” And then leans in and plants a kiss on him before he can blink.

“Merry Christmas, Hyman!” she calls over her shoulder as she disappears into the crowd.

Zach, more than a little shell shocked, makes his way more cautiously towards the basement. 

He manages to make it downstairs without running into anymore mistletoe mishaps. 

Most of the old rookies are there, interspersed with the Marleau kids on the couches. The most recent Christmas photo is up on the wall, complete with Mitch and Auston. Freddie waves when he spots Zach at the bottom of the stairs, accidentally jostling Auston who’s dressed in a blinding green sweater covered in llamas and cacti and bells. Auston swears, gripping his game controller tighter.

“Hyms!” Willie waves him over, shoving poor Tyler over to make space for him on the other couch. Tyler goes with an exaggerated eye roll, bumping Zach’s fist as he squeezes into the space between them. “You alright?” 

“Yeah.” He takes a sip of his hot chocolate and focuses happily on the way Willie is pressed shoulder to thigh against him. “Why?”

“You look a little weird.” 

“Gee, thanks.” 

Willie shoots him a suspicious look. 

“Did something happen?” 

“Nope.” Yeah, the last thing his friends need to know is how he got  _ ambushed _ . “Who’s winning?” 

Brownie crows in delight and that answers that question. 

Willie reluctantly lets him change the subject and Zach settles fully against his side, flushed and happy when Willie slings his arm across Zach’s shoulders. 

 

::

 

They get called upstairs a little while later as the youngest of the kids starts letting out jaw cracking yawns.

It’s fun watching the kids tear through the presents the Leafs bought for them. Brownie gives them a copy of Zach’s latest book, then whips out a sharpie and makes him sign it for the kids, giggling helplessly the entire time. 

“Just supporting my favourite author,” he chirps with a grin when he brandishes the sharpie.

“Can I have your autograph too Mr. Hyman?” Willie bats his ridiculously long eyelashes at him. Zach grabs a pillow to smother him with and they miss the next few gifts as the  _ actual _ adults around them give them space to murder each other. 

Finally the kids settle in to play with their gifts and half the guys disappear back down into the basement for a rematch, while the rest get into the hard eggnog. 

Zach’s being the  _ responsible _ one and helping gather up the destroyed wrapping paper when he passes under a doorway and is stopped by a small blonde. Again.

“Look where we are!” She grins up at him and he nearly drops the scraps he has bundled in his arms. His stomach drops. He glances up.

“Mistletoe!” she crows and when he looks back down she plants one on him.

Zach jerks back and the wrapping paper explodes everywhere. 

“Catch you later, Hyman.” She winks at him and disappears back into the depths of the house.

“Way to go Hyms,” Mitch whistles because  _ of course _ he saw that.

“Where does she keep coming from?” he boggles.  _ And why _ , he adds. If she’s interested in him...she’s barking up the wrong tree. 

“Does  _ Willie _ know you’re up here under the mistletoe?” Mitch waggles his eyebrows at him, ridiculously. “Getting  _ kissed _ .”

“ _ Don’t _ you dare.” Zach slaps a hand over his mouth. 

Mitch tries to say something else but it’s hampered by Zach’s hand. 

“Just, give me a heads up if you see her again, okay?” He pulls his hand back slowly when Mitch nods along easily enough.

“So you can get her to yourself?” 

“ _ Mitchell _ .” 

“Okay, okay.” Mitch holds his hands up in surrender, giggling helplessly. 

He squeals as Zach shoves a handful of wrapping paper down the front of his sweater in retaliation.

 

::

 

Eventually the kids, half passed out, get sent up to bed and some of the couples with children start to head out. The tone of the party starts to quiet down and Zach winds up in the den upstairs with a few of their younger guys. Elf is on television and the room is quiet, the rookies entranced by it. Zach’s stretched out in a recliner, drowsy and happy, if a little chilly, when Willie pokes his head in. 

“There you are.” He gets shushed by about four guys and the affronted face he makes is one Zach won’t be forgetting any time soon. He waves them off and heads straight for Zach, not hesitating before he climbs onto the recliner, sprawling across Zach. 

“ _ Oof _ .” Willie’s certainly not  _ light _ , but he’s warm and Zach’s hands come up automatically to rest on his back when he curls in and makes himself comfortable. 

“Get a room!” Someone calls out and Zach flips them off easily. 

“Comfy?” 

Willie makes a happy sound against his neck, then twists so he can see the movie. 

“You’re a hard man to track down, Mr. Hyman.” He murmurs, his breath hot against Zach’s bare skin. He shivers. “I feel like I’ve barely seen you all night.”

“I can watch Matty lose at COD anytime,” he huffs out a laugh, smoothing his hand down Willie’s back.

“But against a six year old?” 

“True.” Truth is he’s been avoiding doorways for most of the night, not willing to tempt fate. The Marleau’s don’t normally go so overboard with the mistletoe, but this year the stuff seems to be  _ everywhere _ . 

“Is Alex coming up from Buffalo this year?” 

“No,” Willie tucks himself tighter against Zach’s side. “We’re skyping in the afternoon though, trying to make a turkey.” He brightens. “You should join us!”

“Skype with you?” Zach idly considers the day he’d had planned, lazy, maybe do a bit of writing. 

“No, come over. We can skype Alex together.” 

“I can’t cook turkey,” he protests, albeit weakly. Spending a day with Willie sounds amazing, to be honest. 

“Neither can we.” Willie catches his gaze, a crooked grin spread across his lips. “Together we should be able to keep from burning anything down.”

“I’ll think about it.” He promises, already knowing come noon he’ll be over at Willie’s.

They manage to last through the remainder of the movie before Zach’s bladder makes itself known. The rookies are crowded around the tv, trying to decide on the next movie so, with great protest, Zach manages to get himself out from underneath Willie.

He shakes his legs out as he heads across the room, walking on pins and needles. 

And then a familiar blonde head pops up in the doorway.

“Hyman!” She grins at him as he clutches at his chest, wondering if he’s too young for a heart attack. His bladder helpfully reminds him that getting jumped out at is  _ not _ pleasant. “We meet again!”

In a panic, Zach whips around taking in the room behind him. Willie is staring over, an unreadable expression on his face. The rookies are within reach at the tv. Zach reaches out for the nearest body and yanks- dragging an unsuspecting Trevor Moore under the doorway and shoving him at the petite blonde as Zach makes a quick getaway. 

He locks himself in the washroom just down the hall to the muffled laughter of the rookies, probably at Trevors expense. 

He reminds himself to thank the kid later.

 

::

 

“So Marner says you’ve been hanging out under the mistletoe all night.”  _ Of course _ Willie is waiting outside the washroom for him like a  _ creeper _ . There’s a dangerous glint in his eye. “You could have said that’s why you disappeared on me.”

“Marner is telling  _ lies _ .” Zach hisses, peering down the hall. The coast looks clear, but so far he hasn’t even  _ seen _ this girl coming before she all but jumps him. 

Willie rolls his eyes.

“Your girlfriend is in the kitchen I think.” 

Zach blanches. 

“She’s  _ not _ my girlfriend.” 

Willie doesn’t look convinced which is just  _ stressful.  _

“She’s not!” He scrubs a hand over his face. “You know how I don’t date. Well, when I do it’s not...girls.” And wow, not how he’d ever thought he’d come out to Willie. When he’d imagined coming out to Willie it had involved...grand gestures or a romantic dinner. He’s a sap in his own head- he can admit it. 

“Oh,” Willie actually  _ brightens _ at this. “That’s cool man, thanks for telling me.” 

Zach’s cheeks feel like they’re blazing. 

“It’s nothing,” he mumbles. Willie grasps his hand, expression suddenly serious. 

“I appreciate you trusting me.” 

Zach’s feeling a little emotionally vulnerable, which is his excuse why, when Willie grins at him a moment later, wide and wicked, he doesn’t just turn and run.

He is a weak, weak man.

“I know exactly how to solve your problem, though.”

“My problem?”

“With that girl.” 

Zach had thought he’d figured it out too, stay in one room for the rest of the night, he hadn’t taken into account needing to  _ pee _ . 

Willie drags him to the kitchen, shoves him under the doorway and before Zach can protest has cupped his cheeks in his big, warm palms and pulled him in for a kiss. It’s wet and warm and open, and Zach is helpless but to hold on as he’s lit up from the inside, heat spreading through him as Willie kisses him until he’s dizzy from it.

And then he pulls back, flushed, lips red and swollen and Zach is about a second away from diving back in for a second, longer kiss, when he says,

“Oh. She’s not in here.” 

And that. 

That’s like a bucket of cold water.

Zach rips himself away from Willie, chest still heaving because he hasn’t been kissed like  _ that _ in ages and it didn’t even  _ mean _ anything. 

“You can’t just,” he wipes the back of his hand across his lips and tries to catch his breath, tries to get his thoughts to keep from spinning. “Go around  _ kissing _ people.”

“It’s mistletoe.” Willie points up at the doorway and god, Zach is an  _ idiot _ . 

“That’s  _ not an excuse _ .” He has to bite his lip to keep from yelling, to keep from drawing attention. The kitchen is empty, mercifully, but if he starts yelling it won’t be for long. His teammates are  _ nosy _ and this is one time he can’t handle them butting in. 

“Sorry,” Willie says without sounding sorry at all. Zach wants to strangle him, wants to hide away and never show his face again.

“You can’t just go around  _ kissing  _ people when you don’t mean it!” He grits out and Willie face goes from vaguely confused to delighted and Zach takes a step back out of self preservation. That face never means anything good for him. 

“If I tell you I meant it, can we go back to kissing?” Willie asks, impishly. 

“That’s not funny.” 

“It wasn’t meant to be.” Willie covers the distance between them and this time there’s no mistletoe hanging over them when he settles his hands on Zach’s hips and leans in. The kiss is short, light, dry and Zach feels his eyes flutter closed at the soft touch, helpless in the face of William Nylander.

“You better mean it.” The threat comes out quietly, rough in the space between them, and Willie huffs out a soft, happy sound, his thumbs brushing at the skin under Zach’s sweater where it’s rucked up. 

“With you, Hyms,  _ always _ .”

Zach makes a strangled sound, cupping Willie’s face and then they’re kissing again, giving as good as they get, wrapped up in one another.

 

::

 

Willie drags him room to room underneath the mistletoe for the rest of the evening, until the others start tossing pillows and crumpled balls of wrapping paper, threatening to get spray bottles if they don’t get a room.

“I love you both but if I have to listen to you all night I will kill you.” Kappy threatens. Zach knows enough about the prank wars the pair have gone through to understand that pissing off Kappy never ends well.

“You could stay at mine, instead.” Zach offers and Willie flushes happily before realizing,

“You don’t even have a tree!”

“I’ll drive you back home early for Christmas morning.” 

He gets an armful of happy Nylander for that.

 

::

 

“Thanks for coming boys,” Patty pulls them both in for hugs as they gather their shoes and Willie grabs his coat. Through the front windows they can see fat snowflakes falling gently from the sky, a thin dusting covering the grass and sidewalks. Lit up by the Christmas lights it looks breathtaking.

“Good to see you again, William.” Zach turns back to find Willie getting tugged in for a bone cracking hug by the blonde that had been following him all night.

The pair separate, and upon finding Zach staring at them, aghast, they break into matching smirks. 

“You…”

“I’d better get him home.” Willie says cheerfully, holding his fist out for the blonde to bump. “Thanks again Claire.”

“Yeah, no worries. It was fun.” She winks at Zach, patting him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to jump you again.”

They’re halfway down the front walk when Zach recovers enough to form a sentence.

“You set me up!”

“I did not,” Willie laughs, ducking out of reach. “I can’t control what Patty’s cousin’s get up to. I was your knight in shining armor!”

“You  _ dick _ .” Zach shakes his head but he can’t actually stay mad, considering how everything has turned out. The snow is cold when he scoops up a handful but it’s worth it for the way Willie squeals when he gets it down the back of his coat. 

“Is that anyway to thank your savior?” He cries out, giggling and Zach can’t help himself.

He pushes Willie up against the side of his car and leans in, silencing the giggles himself. 

 


End file.
